R vs W vs B vs Y
by Jus Sum Dude
Summary: It's time for a fan-made, unaffiliated Death Battle made by a broke-ass college student who's way too poor to afford getting sued!
1. Introduction

Sisters. Friends. Family. Oh, and Weiss is in there too.

The members of Team RWBY are some of the best fighters in Beacon Academy, and together they are a truly fearsome foursome of terrorist-smashing, criminal-stopping, Grimm-slaughtering power. But what would happen if these four huntresses-in-training were to battle to the death?

Ruby Rose, the Red Reaper

Weiss Schnee, the Ice Queen

Blake Belladonna, the Shadow Cat

And Yang Xiao Long, the Burning Blondie

I'm Jus Sum Dude, and it's NOT my job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win in a Death Battle, but goddamn, do I wish it was!


	2. Ruby Rose

Ruby Rose is the absolute most adorable mass-murderer you will ever meet, until the day scientists figure out how to bolt a chainsaw onto a toddler.

The daughter of Summer Rose and half-sister to Yang Xiao Long, Ruby grew up listening to fairy tales. These tales of daring heroism and romantic fantasy helped to shape her into the energized bundle of joy she is today. Presumably she was being read the prettier version of these stories, not the dark-as-midnight-and-bloodier-than-Yang's-time-of-the-month originals, as she has yet to display any signs of antisocial sociopathy. That shit's probably more up Blake's alley. Trained by her uncle Qrow, Ruby was selected by Professor Ozpin to attend the prestigious Beacon Academy after she interrupted an attempted robbery at a local Dust shop.

By far her most impressive asset is her weapon, Crescent Rose. A combination scythe and high-impact sniper rifle, Ruby's weapon gives her an impressive range of options. She can fire it like a normal rifle, or she can plant the sharp edge of the scythe into the ground to give her a more stable platform from which to fire. In melee combat she can manipulate the recoil of firing her rifle in order to power her swings. As seen in the Red Trailer, this recoil is strong enough to allow her to effortlessly cut through an entire Beowulf, with no wind-up and very little energy on her part! While no caliber for the weapon has ever been officially released, most fans theorize it to possess of a caliber of .50 or even greater on account of the weapon's sheer power. To put this in perspective, a real-life .50 BMG cartridge, a NATO standard round typically used in machine guns and sniper rifles, fired from a Barrett M82 sniper rifle has an effective range exceeding one mile (1.6 kilometers), and, when using the armor-piercing variant, is capable of penetrating Kevlar, steel, and even concrete! Simply put, unless you have a heavy tank strapped to your chest you're not getting away from this bullet unscathed. And that's just the real-life equivalent, not even accounting for the effects of Dust on her ammunition and rifle, so it's totally possible her weapon could be even more powerful!

But, since all that apparently wasn't enough, Ruby also carries her Cross Clips. This is a special magazine seen only in the Red Trailer, which she somehow carries in a pouch, despite it clearly being much too small to carry a magazine of that size (presumably her pouch uses the same technology as her father uses to pack several dozen cans of dog food, a can opener, and a corgi inside a foot-long cardboard tube). Denoted by the cross design on its side, these magazines carry special ammunition which produces a black muzzle flash and generates ridiculous amounts of recoil, enough to propel herself to ludicrous speed for turning hordes of Beowulfs into mangled piles of limbs and rose petals. However, these Cross Clips have only been observed once, implying that Ruby has a very small supply of them.

Ruby's Semblance is speed. By channeling her aura Ruby can move so fast that she almost appears to teleport, leaving only a cloud of rose petals and a very confused adversary. Despite this, she does not use this all the time, such as when she was being chased down by the Nevermore in Season 1, Episode 8. She also seems to struggle when carrying objects of equal or greater weight to herself, as evidenced by when she passed out when attempting to carry Penny in Season 2, Episode 3. These facts imply that Ruby has very limited stamina when using this ability, which explains why she even bothers using the recoil of her weapon for movement rather than rely exclusively on her Semblance.

The good news for Ruby is that she is young, energetic, and childish. The bad news for Ruby is that she is… well… young, energetic, and childish. She is a full two years younger than the other members of her team, having technically never graduated from her previous school, Signal Academy. Compared to every other member of her team, she lacks experience, maturity, and patience. However, she is obviously intelligent, having designed and forged her own weapon, and has the creativity to come up with team maneuvers like Ladybug, Checkmate, Razorburn, Bumblebee, and Iceflower, as seen during the battle with Roman and his Paladin in Season 2, Episode 4, and has the ingenuity and spontaneity to come up with complex and effective tactics in the middle of battle, as evidenced by her patent-pending epic slingshot maneuver she used to take down the Nevermore in Season 1, Episode 8.

However, Ruby's youth is also her greatest weakness. Her aforementioned inexperience sometimes causes her to take foolish risks, like trying to take on a Deathstalker all on her own in Season 1, Episode 8, or trying to carry Penny while traveling at high speed and consequently almost getting run over by a car in Season 2, Episode 3, or announcing her presence at the Docks to Roman rather than simply snipe him from afar and then taking her eyes off him long enough for him to shoot her in the chest in Season 1, Episode 16. Ruby is skilled and innovative, but she can also be reckless to the point of stupid. She also fights poorly in unarmed combat, as without her scythe she was easily defeated by a White Fang grunt in Season 2, Episode 10 and was hilariously impotent against Roman in the beginning of the subsequent episode.

But despite all this, her skill with Crescent Rose is absolutely prodigious, enough to convince Professor Ozpin to move her up two years, and her capacity for invention and leadership was enough to earn her position as Team Leader, despite her youth. Or maybe because of it. Either way, underestimating this pint-sized powerhouse of adorable destruction is one mistake you don't want to make. Ever.

_"Birdy, NO!"_


	3. Weiss Schnee

How do I even begin to explain Weiss Schnee? Weiss Schnee is flawless. She has two Fondi purses and a Silver Nexus. I hear her hair's insured for 10,000 Lien. I hear she does car commercials… in Mistral. Her favorite movie is _Varsity Whites_. One time, she met Jean Stamos on a plane. And he told her she was pretty. One time, she punched me in the face. It was awesome.

Weiss Schnee is the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant, commonly referred to as "Dust," in the world of Remnant. She's also Team RWBY's resident ice queen, fashion consultant, and sword-wielding, ice-making, ass-freezing, destroyer of all things either despicably evil or horrendously out-of-style. Like giant robot-knight thingies. Or Ruby's sense of self-worth.

In combat Weiss uses Myrtenaster, her Multi-Action Dust Rapier. The Rapier is a slender, one-handed blade with a sharp point, best suited for thrusting. It was adopted in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, when gunpowder weapons were slowly making suits of armor obsolete. With more and more soldiers wearing less and less protection, armies began to adopt swords that were lighter, more maneuverable, and less cumbersome, as the lack of armor negated the usefulness of heavier swords. It was also a popular dueling sword amongst the wealthy. Although the weapon would eventually give way to shorter and lighter melee weapons as warfare continued to shift away from close-quarters combat, the Rapier is still used by officers of the Swiss Guard. You know those guys in the snazzy blue and orange suits whose job is to protect the Pope? That way if some crazed nutcase were to somehow make it past their assault rifles, submachine guns, machine pistols, and regular old pistols, they can at least stab them to death.

Of course, Weiss does more than stab people. Myrtenaster is also Dust-compatible, meaning it can use Dust in its raw form to achieve a variety of effects. With Green Dust she can generate gusts of wind strong enough to blast a giant sword out of her opponent's hand, as seen in the White Trailer. With Red Dust she can burn down entire forests, as seen in Season 1, Episode 6. But her bread and butter is Ice, if you haven't guessed from the nicknames everyone seems to give her. She can use Ice to freeze opponents in place, create walls of ice for protection, and even as a ranged-projectile attack with which she can pin down enemies. Basically, if Elsa from Frozen ever got over her parental issues and stopped running a kingdom to take up fencing, you'd get Weiss. Her sword also acts as a focusing instrument, through which she can channel her own raw aura, as seen in the White Trailer. This seems to be her coup de grâce, her 'ultimate' in a sense. It seems to consume a considerable amount of aura, which explains why it has been seen so rarely.

More than any other of her peers, Weiss seems to rely most on her Semblance. Weiss has the ability to create glyphs, glowing symbols either on a solid surface or in mid-air, which she can use to manipulate the movement of herself and others. Typically, these glyphs are used to launch herself at high speed, allowing her to move at speeds almost on par with Ruby when she uses her own Semblance. However, Weiss's abilities are far more versatile than her red companion's, as she can also use her glyphs in mid-air for aerial maneuvers, move her teammates around the battlefield, and even send an enemy flying sky-high. In Season 2, Episode 4 Weiss used a new Haste Glyph in order to accelerate the movement of Blake so she could effectively counter Roman's Paladin's missile barrage. Later, in Season 2, Episode 11, Weiss uses this same Glyph on herself to achieve a similar effect.

Both Weiss's training and weaponry reflect her rigid, formalized training. She prefers to wait for the right time to strike, relying on her weapon's precision and maneuverability to perfectly take advantage of openings in her enemy's defense. Combined with her Semblance and athleticism, Weiss is capable of taking down opponents much larger than herself, and her supporting abilities arguably make her the most valued member of Team RWBY from a tactical perspective. However she also adapts to surprises rather poorly, as evidenced by Season 1, Episode 6 when she nearly triggered a destructive forest fire that forced her and Ruby to retreat from what would've otherwise been an easy victory.

More than any other member of Team RWBY, Weiss relies on both her Dust and Semblance, and since both of these require her own energy to activate that leaves her with very little Aura with which to defend herself. Like a glass sword, she can cut deep, but she breaks fairly easily. Her Semblance also isn't perfect (not yet, anyway…), as each Glyph requires a brief moment to set up before it activates. Her Glyphs also can only launch her in one direction. When it comes to enhancing her own mobility, Ruby has her beat in terms of speed and Blake has her trumped in terms of maneuverability. Combined with her aforementioned rigid training and fighting style, this makes her fairly predictable. Her most notable loss has been to the White Fang Lieutenant in Season 2, Episode 11. While Weiss certainly held the upper hand initially, no other battle in the entire series better displays her weaknesses. While the Lieutenant's own toughness certainly did help him, in the end Weiss lost because of her own predictability. Her adversary was able to intercept her attack because he was able to correctly anticipate her finishing blow. Weiss's overuse of her Glyphs, though impressive and almost successful, ultimately left her with very little Aura to protect herself with, allowing her to be taken down in a few seconds.

But you've got to catch her before you can hurt her, and that means getting past her speed, Glyphs, multiple flavors of Dust, and a pointy stick that's just waiting to get jammed someplace where the sun don't shine. Though she's most powerful as a support fighter, she's certainly no slouch on her own. This is one Ice Queen who doesn't need to Let It Go.

_"I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store…"_


	4. Blake Belladonna

I have to admit. I didn't think Blake was all that attractive until she finally took off that bow. But as soon as she did she instantly became the absolute cutest thing I'd seen since "Charlie bit my finger." I mean, just look at her! She's so cute and adorable! Don't you just want to pick her up and snuggle with her and just eat her up?! But this is one pussy no one's going to be eating tonight. Except maybe Yang. Or Sun. Or Adam. Or even the entire cast of the show if Tumblr is to be believed.

Man, Fanfiction is weird. And the people who write them are even weirder…

Born into the White Fang, an organization created to bridge the gap between the Faunus and humans, Blake's life would take a dark turn with a single change of leadership. Although little has been revealed of her past, she has referred to Adam as her mentor, so he was most likely the one who trained her. More on that later…

She wields Gambol Shroud, a Variable Ballistic Chain Scythe, and one of the most complex weapons in the entire franchise. This weapon has three forms, the first being a simple straight blade, almost like an oversized cleaver. While it is fairly clumsy in this form, Blake can quickly unsheathe the blade and can dual-wield both her sword and her scabbard. This gives her an incredibly nasty surprise that she can unleash on her foe, as she can lead in with a single blade and quickly transition into her two-handed fighting style, allowing her to take advantage of the split second hesitation caused by the sudden change in tactics. Her sword itself has been referred to by the creators as a katana, and while it does have the curved blade and sharp point of the famed Japanese sword, making it suitable for both slashing and thrusting attacks, unlike its real-life equivalent Gambol Shroud is a one-handed weapon, appears to have a shorter blade, and has a much more significant cross guard. However, her weapon's third form is by far the most interesting. With a flick of her wrist her sword transforms into a spinning projectile of death, controlled by Blake's manipulation of its recoil and the attached ribbon. She can use this form as a powerful mid-range offensive option or as a recoil-powered grappling hook to help her move around the battlefield. This last form has often been compared to a kusarigama, or chain-scythe, a Japanese improvised weapon consisting of a long chain with a sickle at one end and a heavy iron weight at the other. However the actual kusarigama would not have been used in the way Blake uses her weapon, i.e. throwing the bladed end of the weapon at the enemy. In real life the weighted end of the weapon would be thrown so it would wrap around the blade or handle of the enemy's weapon, or even one of the enemy's limbs. The user would then use the chain to drag the enemy closer and limit their movement before using the sickle end to finish them off.

In terms of function Gambol Shroud's third form has more in common with the Chinese Rope Dart, or Rope Javelin. This simple weapon consists of a metal dart attached to a series of rings, attached to a long rope, and finally attached to a handle. The rings would often have bright feathers or flags attached to them, making the dart easier to see and slower moving and thus easier to control. These feathers or flags could be removed, sacrificing control for speed. This weapon is incredibly difficult to master, requiring years of practice, excellent hand-eye coordination, and two hands. Yet Blake manages with an even heavier, faster moving, and more complex variant. Single-handedly.

Blake has also displayed the ability to generate some sort of energy-based projectile attack, as seen in Season 2, Episode 4 during the Paladin Battle with Roman and in Season 2, Episode 11 during their rematch. As we can assume Weiss did not give her any Dust magazines prior to the battle with Roman's Paladin, and since it is such a rarely seen ability, this is attack presumably utilizes Blake's raw Aura, similar to Weiss's aforementioned ultimate from the White Trailer. Since it directly consumes Blake's energy, she only seems to use it when finishing off an immobilized enemy or when countering particularly dangerous attacks.

Blake's Semblance grants her the ability to create an empty copy of herself. After creating one of these "shadow clones" Blake can propel herself in seemingly any direction away from the clone, even while in mid-air. These clones will quickly disperse, and appear to be illusions, incapable of physically interacting or harming her enemies, unless they are enhanced with Dust. In Season 2, Episode 11 Blake uses a magazine of Dust given to her by Weiss in combination with her Semblance. These versions of her clones took on the elemental properties of the Dust, allowing Blake to create clones from earth, ice, or even fire. While she typically uses her Semblance for confusing, evading, and maneuvering, Dust allows to her to use her clones much more aggressively. Earth clones give her a small amount of cover, useful for countering ranged attacks, Fire clones will detonate upon contact with the enemy, and Ice clones can temporarily restrain an enemy that touches them.

The last thing to discuss is Blake's training, which requires a bit of conjecture. The Chinese Rope Dart was a weapon originally intended to be used for assassination, as it was small and easily concealable. As Gambol Shroud's third form bears a striking resemblance to the ancient weapon, and since Blake grew up in, and was a member of, the White Fang, a terrorist organization (a cult, as Sun would put it), it wouldn't be too outrageous to speculate that Blake may have originally been trained by Adam as an assassin. It would also fit in with her peculiarly complex weapon. Unlike her companions' weapons Gambol Shroud does not seem particularly suited to what Dr. Oobleck would call, "a heightened form of extermination." It lacks the ability to efficiently dispatch large groups of enemies, is not Dust Compatible in and of itself, and seems to be better suited to eliminating solitary targets, particularly highly-skilled ones. This may be reaching, but it does seem a little odd when Roman remarks to Blake in Season 2, Episode 11 "Do you really think a little bow on top is going to make people to forget what you were? What you've done…" and Blake seems subtly affected by it. Blake does not seem like the sort of person to allow something like mere larceny affect her. But what about murder, or even just accessory to murder?

Killer or not, Blake is probably the most experienced member of Team RWBY. She has almost certainly been fighting a much wider variety of enemies in much less controlled environments, and possibly for a much longer time. She is practically-minded, but adapts well to changing circumstances, and is implicitly widely read, even if much of what she reads may be erotica. She is by far the most flexible of her teammates in terms of both combat and personality, though one would be wise not to mistake her quiet demeanor for a weak-will, as she has strong opinions on Faunus-human relationships. She has a variety of options for engaging her target at any range, and with any capabilities. Truly, she is a Jack-of-all-trades.

But, like most Jacks-of-all-trades, she is a Master-of-none. Put simply, every single one of her teammates outclasses her in some way. At long range her handgun is pitiful in comparison to Ruby's sniper rifle, at mid-range Weiss's Dust-based attacks put the Shadow Cat at a complete disadvantage, and at close range Yang could reduce her to a smear of black paste on the floor. She tends to rely on her tricky illusions and varied move-set to outfight her enemy, but her lack of raw firepower does tend to limit her when facing enemies of equal or greater skill. The best evidence of this would be her first battle against Roman at the docks in Season 1, Episode 16, when she couldn't land a single hit on him despite her best efforts. If it had not been for the intervention of Sun, Ruby, and Penny she would've surely been defeated. She also seems to struggle against heavily armored foes, like the spider-tank in the Black Trailer. Though she was able to delay her adversary, her weapon's lack of penetrating power forced her to rely on Adam to deliver the killing blow. As she is also fighting her own teammates, she also loses much of the element of surprise, as her peers are more than familiar with her abilities and limitations. While this is equally true for all four of these fighters, this is especially crucial for Blake, who tends to utilize deception and cunning. Finally, while her weapon, Semblance, and training make her very agile, she has few ways to increase her own speed, meaning it will be difficult for her to control what range she engages the other girls at.

But the most powerful weapon any fighter can have is their brain, and Blake's is certainly formidable. Look out, because this kitty has claws!

_"Don't be so dramatic…"_


	5. Yang Xiao Long

There's only one word to describe Yang Xiao Long. BAMFILF. "What's a BAMFILF?" you may ask. BAMFILF is an acronym for a BadAss MotherFucker I'd Like to Fuck. The kind of woman who makes your eyes widen and your special places feel tingly in an odd, but not altogether unpleasant, mix of fear and arousal. One look at this Blond Beauty and bad guys don't know whether to piss themselves or get down on one knee and propose. In Junior's case, I'm guessing both at some point.

As Ruby's half-sister, Yang grew up with the mystery of her mother's disappearance looming over her head. Brave and adventurous even at a young age, she would grow up to be one of the strongest and most intimidating students among the entire first-year class.

Yang wields twin armaments of astonishing power and destructive potential...

But enough about her tits, let's talk about her weapons!

She named her Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets "Ember Celica." These are probably the simplest weapons among the Team RWBY arsenal, and good thing too. After writing that nightmare of a paragraph for Gambol Shroud, I could use a fucking break. Ember Celica appears to fire two kinds of ammunition, the first seems to be some kind of buckshot for annihilating foes at close-range, while the second is some kind of slow-moving explosive that detonates on impact, useful for engaging foes at long range. Much like her sister, Yang can use the force of her weapon's recoil to propel and maneuver in mid-air. She is so good at this that she can clear through almost an entire forest canopy like some kind of explosive-powered bird, as seen in Season 1, Episode 5. In fact, since she is Ruby's older sibling, it is entirely possible that she is the one who taught Ruby to do this.

Yang's Semblance grants her the ability to store incoming kinetic energy and use that energy to power her strikes. Simply put, "hit her, and she hits back even harder." This power becomes most apparent when Yang reaches her Final Form. After absorbing enough energy Yang's eyes turn red, her hair begins to glow, and she gains the ability to discharge her stored energy. While she typically uses this to further increase the power of her strikes she can also channel this power through her legs in order to further increase her speed, as briefly seen in the Yellow Trailer. It should be noted that this ability does not protect her from incoming damage. She can also briefly attain this form when subjected to enough emotional stress, such as when she is angered, frustrated, or if, god-forbid, some idiot proves dumb enough to mess with her hair.

Yang's best defense is her offense. She is the most straightforward and aggressive of all of Team RWBY. Much like her sister, she is positive and cheerful, but unlike her sister this stems from a deep sense of confidence in her own abilities as a person and a fighter, a cocky attitude which, in all honesty, is not undeserved. While she does have the option of long-range assault, short-range combat is her specialty. She appears to be in the best physical shape in comparison to her teammates, and is certainly the best hand-to-hand fighter. There are few problems or foes she cannot simply pound into submission.

Unfortunately her overwhelming offense is also her _only_ defense. As her Semblance relies on her receiving raw force, she struggles against enemies who can place their strikes precisely and carefully in order to cause harm without expending a lot of energy. This was most apparent during her infamous fight with Neo in Season 2, Episode 11. She also struggles against styles of fighting focusing on kicks rather than punches, as seen in the Yellow Trailer when she had more trouble fighting Melanie than her sister, Miltia. While she does have a long-ranged attack, her projectiles are also fairly slow moving in comparison to the bullets fired by Crescent Rose and Gambol Shroud.

Overall, Yang is probably the simplest fighter to describe. She may not have the most elegant or sophisticated approach to kicking ass, but you certainly can't argue with her results. Don't count her out just yet.

**_All right, the combatants are set, it's time to end this debate once and for all!_**

**_IT'S TIME FOR AN UNAFFILIATED DEATH BATTLE!_**

_Now that you, dear reader, have read the last few chapters, it's time for you to leave a quick little review detailing who you think will win and why. This isn't a popularity contest, rather it's more of a forum. I will read each of those reviews and will use them, along with my own thoughts to figure out who will win. Or you could leave the fate of RWBY in my totally trustworthy, non-sociopathic hands._

_I wonder if it's too late to change this thing's rating to M..._

_Happy arguing!_


End file.
